Nearly 80% of local gov't heads favor spouse surname change: survey

The people, the business lobby and the local government heads ... so who has the right to hold this up? The bureaucrats to preserve their bureaucratic procedures? The old dinosaurs in the LDP? Somebody from the conservatives who don't get out and about much who support single surnames, please make the case for us.

Ha ha! They roll out this old chestnut after 28 years on a national holiday!

The Moonies influence on the LDP is why this hasn't been done years ago.

...but conservatives have argued that separate surnames may affect family unity.

This excuse is actually laughable. You know what affects family unity? Having to work late hours and at weekends so that you have no time to go home or stay home with your family. Having kids' lives be utterly consumed by school and club activities and cram school Mondays to Sundays so that they have no time to spend with family. Try again, conservatives.

So the children get which last name?????????

Married couples must share the same surname under Japan's Civil Code...

Unless one of the couple is a foreign national. In which case you can legally both keep your original family name.

Can children choose which last name they want to use?

My son has my surname, you know it makes sense

A family with no family name interesting.

If they want to pursue this they need to consider the naming of the kids at the same time.

Those who support same surnames still seem unable to make the case. Funny how unconvincing they are. But, of course, in their world they need not make a case; they just impose it.

falseflagsteve

My son has my surname, you know it makes sense

But he must be on his Japanese mother's Koseki since foreigners don't have one. What happened to your son's Koseki after your divorce?

wallace

No idea, my ex has everything and she has vanished from the face of the earth.

falseflagsteve

No idea, my ex has everything and she has vanished from the face of the earth.

Your son has a Koseki which you can obtain from the previous district he lived in and his name will be the one on that koseki. He will need that later in his life.

ffs

Family registers (koseki tohon) prove Japanese citizenship, verify a person's identity, and determine familial relationships.

ffs

you should obtain his Koseki. Not difficult and not expensive. It is his proof he was born in Japan.

A certified copy of the koseki is needed to apply for certificates, passports, and registrations.

wallace

He’s got passports already. Well, I haven’t had access to it for 4 years and i have to sign a declaration why I can’t provide and that I’m telling the truth. Can’t stand all that cobblers, gets on my wick.